Richard Pak « La Firme »
- Exposition
Practical information
- Date et heure
- Location Galerie Le Château d'Eau
- Public Tout Public
OPENING on Wednesday 23 October at 6 p.m
By combining photography, video, storytelling and historical documents, Richard Pak recounts the story of the community of Tristan da Cunha - a small volcanic island in the middle of the South Atlantic, the most isolated inhabited territory in the world - and questions the legacy of the idealistic values that founded this community 200 years ago.
The Firm. Cycle: “Les îles du désir” (Islands of Desire).
A confetti-like island lost in the depth of the South Atlantic, 2,771 km from South Africa and 3,223 km from Brazil. The nearest land is the island of Saint Helena, 2,418 km to the north-north-east and, with its 96 km2 surface area, the volcanic island of Tristan da Cunha rises to a height of 2,062 m. In other words, a world away from the world.
Richard Pak settled there at the end of 2016 for three months and began his cycle on the insular world, which he then developed and is still continuing. Nevertheless, he had to reach the island first: “Getting to Tristan da Cunha is a challenge. Some people wait more than two years. First, one has to get permission from the island council. Then there is the search for a place on one of the few fishing boats that sail there. When the archipelago is finally in sight, after eight days of sailing to the threshold of the roaring forties, the weather has to be good enough to allow for cargo and passengers to reach the shore, which is never guaranteed.”
There, as the only visitor among the 260 inhabitants – who had only eight different surnames – and a few expatriates, mainly British and a few South Africans, he proceeded slowly, taking his bearings, looking for traces of a singular history that saw this territory tied to the British Crown governed by an organisation that ignored hierarchy, private property and money.
Strong values of solidarity and cohabitation remain from this beautiful utopia.
Richard Pak drew on this experience and attentiveness to capture gentle images, a combination of landscapes and portraits in soothing, unostentatious tones that breathe both a sense of spaciousness and a closeness to those he photographed. These documentary photographs, which seek neither to create a narrative nor to prove anything, are accompanied by documents and footage. The notes he wrote during his stay have enabled him to create a book about the most isolated inhabited territory on our planet.
Neither a historian, nor an ethnologist, nor a sociologist, but undeniably curious, thoroughly informed and a true photographer, Richard Pak merely extends an invitation to discover this singular universe that he wanted to experience. The combination of tenderness and fragility he conveys brings to mind the words of Eric Orsena: “An island is by definition fragile and nomadic. Everyone is afraid that it will dissolve at some point or drift away”.
Christian Caujolle, Curator
The series “La Firme” is the first chapter in an anthology (Les îles du désir – Islands of desire) devoted to the insular world. Islands, places where few people live, nurture a fantasy shared by many. As well as simply being far away, they suggest a break with everyday life. Islands fascinate travellers just as much as they shape their inhabitants. In the collective imagination, they are on the edge, representing the median point between the unknown and the known. The etymology of the word isolate refers to “to separate like an island (isola)” and I could hardly have found better than Tristan da Cunha to begin a cycle on insularity.
La Firme, Richard Pak
Text extract from Richard Pak
Series La Firme (Tristan da Cunha, 2016/17)
The name of the Portuguese navigator who discovered it in the 16th century is misleading for this discreetly mythical and resolutely British island. The volcano is eight days by boat from Cape Town, the only way to get there. Therefore, this confetti-like island of one hundred square kilometres is a perfect triangle in the middle of the South Atlantic, the most isolated inhabited territory on the planet. However, it was not the exotic nature of its remoteness that drew me there, but rather its unique history and the idealistic values that underpin the small society that clings to it.
In 1816, an agreement was entered into by the first inhabitants, who referred to themselves as “the firm”, and the British Crown. The few articles of the agreements stated that “here, no one shall be superior to anyone else”, “all shall be considered equal” and “all profits made shall be shared equally”. In fact, there was no private property, no boss, no money – everyone helped each other. The land is still communal. The only condition is to build a house on it. Lending a helping hand makes sense, because no one can exist alone. They continue to live together in every sense of the word.
The utopian experience remained largely unknown until 1961, when the volcano began to rumble. The two hundred and sixty islanders were evacuated and thrown into post-industrial Britain. The British government thought it was as much about saving them from an undoubtedly fatal destiny as about enlightening them about the benefits of consumer society. And, incidentally, to get rid of this tiny territory of virtually no strategic interest, which was on a permanent financial drip. However, the Tristanians were not too impressed by this modern world so far removed from their own, and preferred to return to their island two years later.
Help with the visit. Download the three media: Educational pack | Games booklet | Information Falc
Richard’s Firm book to be published by Atelier EXB Editions
Photographies : Richard Pak
Texts of Richard Pak, Michel Poivert (historian), Marie Redon (géographer)
Hardcover – 19 x 27 cm, 144 pages, 60 photographies
Sales price : 45 euros
Richard Pak Richard Pak is a multidisciplinary writer born in France in 1972.
Documentary photography, visual research, storytelling or video.
“Richard Pak’s photographic work has been carried out consistently over the last twenty-five years. It was built up empirically, meaning without dogma or programme, and without systematism either. The very idea of photography is explored, without there being any question of a stylistic coherence, and even less that of an unvarying process that would serve as an aesthetic guarantee. Whether the approach is experimental and visual, classical and documental, sociological and fictional, he asserts his editorial freedom.” (Michel Poivert, 2022)
His work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions in Europe.
He has published two monographs with Editions Filigranes, and his photographs are included in public and private collections, including those of the BNF (National Library of France) and the Neuflize OBC Collection.
- 2024 Galerie Le Château d’Eau, France, Biennale de Liège, Belgique
- 2023 ImageSingulières, Sète, France, Stimultania, Strasbourg, France, Hangar, Bruxelles, Belgique
- 2022 En Aparté, Paris, France
- 2021 Galerie Spot, Naples, Italie, NNIPAS, La Bourboule, France, Festival L’homme et la mer, Le Guilvinec, France
- 2020 Festival du Regard, Cergy, France
- 2017 Le Kiosque, Vannes, France, Galerie de l’Artothèque, Annecy, France
- 2016 Festival Manifesto, Toulouse, France, L’Harponneuse, Grandcamp-Maisy, France
- 2015 Festival Portrait(s), Vichy, France, Festival L’Œil Urbain, Corbeil-Essonnes, France, Galerie de l’Artothèque, Vitré, France
- 2014 L’Imagerie, Lannion, France
- 2012 Le Château d’Eau, Toulouse, France
- 2010 Centre Atlantique de la Photographie, Brest, France, Le Pavillon Populaire, Montpellier, France, Galerie Le Lieu, Lorient, France
- 2009 Galerie Stieglitz19, Anvers, Belgique
- Grande commande photographique, BNF & Ministère de la Culture, 2022
- Lauréat Prix Photographie & Science, Résidence 1+2 & CNRS, France, 2021
- Aide à la Productions d’oeuvres d’art, Fondation des Artistes, 2020
- Aide à la Photographie documentaire contemporaine, Cnap, 2020
- Finaliste Talents Contemporains, Fondation François Schneider, 2017 & 2020